How to Set up Alexa to Run Your Smart Home
Once you enable a particular skill, some smart home devices also require you to pair your device with your Dot or Echo, a process that’s done simply by saying “Pair Devices” to Alexa and letting her do her thing. She finds your smart light bulb, thermostat, smart smoke detector, or other devices and handles the connection process herself. If you’re just getting started building out your smart home, then here’s a list of some of the smart home devices out there that are currently compatible with Alexa, as well as how to get them to work with the Echo or Dot in your home. You can also use Alexa to lock your door once you’re inside. For security reasons, the feature doesn’t work for unlocking the door. Phillips’ Hue lights are arguably the most-used smart lights out there. Once enabled, you can both power the lights on and off as well as set different brightness settings or activate different scene settings you’ve already set up for the room. If you have Kuna-Powered security lights, you can also use Alexa to power those on by simply saying the name you’ve given the lights within Kuna. For instance, you might say “Alexa, turn on my backyard lights.” Alexa also works with Vivint, and Wink-enabled lights, as well as several others. If you already have your smart lights installed in your home, then you can control them using the same names you gave them in your smart light’s app. For instance, you can ask Alexa to turn on your porch lights or dim the lights in your bedroom. You can also use Alexa to power on gaming systems connected to the hub, such as Microsoft’s Xbox One, and turn off your entire entertainment center at once when you’re ready to head to bed. Alexa works with a number of different thermostats including Carrier, Honeywell, and Sensi. The most well-known compatible thermostat, however, is probably Nest. Once you have the Nest Alexa skill enabled, you can ask her to do things like changes the temperature on a certain floor of your home to something different, or bring the temp in the whole home down by a few degrees. If you’re just not sure whether it’s hot in your house or you’re having a hot flash, you can also simply ask Alexa what the temperature is. Sonos has detailed instructions up on its site explaining how the process works, but essentially you need to connect your speaker and Dot together using a stereo cable. The app prompts you to enter your login credentials for the air conditioner, which are the same ones you use in the Frigidaire mobile application. Once connected, you can do things like turn the air conditioner off and on, lower the temperature, or set the temperature using your voice rather than the app. Try it with something like a fan in the summer or an electric space heater in the winter. The functionality with this one is only limited by your imagination, and much like the lights, you have to ask Alexa to search for your devices once you enable the skill.
